Jase couldn’t help but grin at Carey’s slight flush. He’d never met anyone as blind to his own appeal as Carey was. During their Pendleton days, guys used to clamor for him to join them on their bar hopping, his aloof reserve amidst the frat-boy antics of the platoon drawing women to him like moths to a flame.
“Best wingman ever,” his fellow Marines declared.
“How old are you, anyway?” Jase had asked him one night, shocked when Carey revealed he’d just turned twenty-one. All around them, dudes the same age were doing stupid s**t, like drinking to the point of blackout, or getting in fights. Carey did none of that, instead conducting himself with the steady, dependable maturity of someone half a dozen years older.
Curiosity had burned its way through Jase. “My barracks roommate just tran
